Traditional medicine career of the Cham people in Xuan Hai commune, Ninh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province is known to people far and wide for its quintessence and value of its products. In addition to treating diseases, traditional medicine practice also brings incomes to villagers. Today, the profession has helped give a facelift to Xuan Hai commune. As the spring is coming, medical families in the commune welcome the New Year with joys and dream about good things.
In the atmosphere of spring family reunion, Nguyen Van Thua, an experienced pharmacist, feels proud and valuable using medicinal herbs to cure diseases for people. He said the traditional medicine career that he has practised for over 10 years has brought in numerous benefits. Besides making valuable medicinal dosages at reasonable prices for sick people, the traditional medicine is also a source of stable income for his family. In the atmosphere of family reunion and New Year holiday, he does not forget to prepare medicinal dosages and plant more herbs in his garden to have more curable supplies. He said, "Lunar New Year is coming, his family and other villagers take a rest and prepare some medicine for the new year.”
Dr Thanh Phan, who was born in Phuoc Nhon 2 village, said although he does not live on traditional medicine, he always remembers imprints of his medical village where people are determined to continue and develop the traditional profession until today. In New Year days, he always reunites with other family members and remind his offspring of their origins and the medical village where generations of villagers uphold the disease-curing profession. “Among Cham villages, only An Phuoc and Phuoc Nhon live on traditional medicine. Previously, about half of villagers lived on medicine and now nearly all villagers live on it and only a few do the farming. Therefore, medicine is considered the most valuable and important career in An Nhon and Phuoc Nhon. I was born in this village and grew up with this profession.”
In Xuan Hai, medicinal herbs are grown by all families. Each family has 5-10 medicine recipes to cure popular diseases like back pain, joint pain and menorrhagia. Medicine recipes are not only used by the Cham people in Ninh Thuan province but also learned by physicians far and wide. When the “Traditional medicine conservation in Xuan Hai village” project, funded by Global Environment Facility, was carried out, the traditional medicine has a certain position and affirms the name of the profession. According to project specialists, Xuan Hai has 34 species of medicinal plants in need of prioritised conservation. Moreover, 30 families in Xuan Hai commune are certified to have traditional remedies of their lineage. Medicinal herbs and remedies of Cham people are printed in “Medicinal plants and remedies of Cham people in Ninh Thuan” book.
The Project Management Board has recently built plans to preserve the career and guide local people to combine tourism development with medicine development. Nguyen Van Hoan, a physician in An Nhon village, Xuan Hai commune, Ninh Hai district, said, "In An Nhon village, villagers are very happy and all households are planting medicinal herbs. Previously, medicinal herbs are taken from nature but now grown in family gardens.”
In the springtime, many medicinal plants are blooming and spreading fragrance afar to herald a new year of affluence and happiness.
T.Huyen
Vietnamese
